South Alabama AD named to baseball selection committee

MOBILE, Alabama -- South Alabama director of athletics Joel Erdmann has been appointed to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament selection committee. Erdmann will serve a four-year term, beginning Sept. 1 of this year and continuing until Sept. 1, 2016.

South Alabama AD Joel Erdmann has been named to a four-year term on the NCAA Division I baseball tournament selection committee. He begins his term on Sept. 1. (Press-Register/G.M. Andrews)

Members of the baseball tournament selection committee are selected by geographical location in an effort to assure representation across the country. The committee is charged with selecting the at-large teams that participate in the tournament each year, seeding the teams in the tournament, overseeing the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., and providing exposure for the sport throughout the year on a national level.

"I'm very excited and honored to be part of the committee,'' Erdmann said. "There's definitely a lot of responsibility to make the best decisions possible and consider the game of college baseball. I'm excited by it, but I also have a deep understanding of the role of the committee and I'll do my best to fulfill my role in that job as best I can.''

Erdmann, while at South Alabama prior to returning to the school as its AD, served as an assistant coach for the Jaguars' baseball team (1996-97) under then-head coach Steve Kittrell. He was a graduate assistant for the Jags in 1992, helping the team to the Sun Belt Conference East Division crown and the NCAA tournament while also earning his masters degree. He is entering his fourth year as the school's AD. He previously was AD at North Alabama and Southeastern Louisiana.

He graduated in 1986 from South Dakota State and later served as an assistant baseball coach at Pacific. Erdmann earned his doctorate from Florida State in 1995. Baseball has been an important game for him as both a player, coach and administrator.

"Sometimes in the role of AD you have a sense that you're a little too detached from the games, all the games that you enjoy,'' Erdmann said. "I think this does provide an opportunity to be closer to a game. In my personal case, it's a game that I spent many years playing and coaching. I think it will be fun to do the best we can to make sure that the game is fair and it's healthy.''

Erdmann was notified of his appointment to the committee this past spring, but had to go through a lengthy process to become a member. He was first nominated to be on the 10-member committee by the Sun Belt Conference. In conjuncture with a nomination, each candidate then had to submit a justification as to why they would be qualified to serve on the committee and list any applicable past experience in a role or some type of knowledge or expertise in the sport that would be beneficial.